Both sorry and sad to say the Pirates and the Nationals now share one very bad record. Since the new round of stadiums started being built, they are the only two teams to move into a new stadium and lose 100 games the same year.

Both teams were just bad.  They each employed a sizeable number of AAAA players and purchased some expensive   cosmetics to cover up bad management that was not prepared to move into new stadiums that were taxpayer financed.  The pirates employed Derek “Operation Shutdown” Bell and the Nat’s got Paul Lo,” how many steroids have I done Duca. “

The Nationals, while moving into the new, $611 million dollar  stadium, were 13th in the league in attendance.  I was fortunate enough to actually attend several games and came away with two thoughts. First, the food was awesome. I totally recommend the Ben’s Chili Bowl hot dog with chili fries. The second thought is: the team was terrible.  It made this beautiful stadium feel empty.  You could hear a pin drop, even during a rally. It also felt strange that the area surrounding this new gem was in such a rundown part of DC. Up until three years ago there had not been new construction in that area of DC in years. So now you have a lot of rundown buildings, mixed in with new urban construction and then this pristine new stadium. Five years from now it will be great, but for now it is a weird place to go to see a ballgame. I do give some credit for some vision and foresight as the city of DC was able to facilitate a similar transformation to the area surrounding the Verizon Center and how is one of the most desirable areas in DC.

One thing I recommend that the Nationals do not do is raise the ticket prices like the “Bucs”. Coming off their 100 loss season, the Pirates made two blunders. First, ticket prices were raised, which was perhaps the dumbest thing Kevin McClatchy, former Owner and CEO ever did.  The second thing they did was to not pick the best prospect available.  Instead Brian Bullington who was not seen by many as more than a fourth or fifth starter in the league was chosen. I believe that B.J. Upton who was passed over was starring in the playoffs this year.  Enough said.

Now the Nationals have a chance to make a big impact for years to come with their draft. They now are in a position to select Stephen Strasburg out of San Diego State, who is the consensus first pick in the draft. He throws 101 mph with a filthy slider. Scouts are comparing him to Dwight Gooden.  No one was comparing Brian Bullington to Dwight Gooden.  Another thing which could be a blessing in disguise is that the Nat’s did not sign their first round pick last year, so they get to pick number 10 as well for 2009. Next years draft class is being billed as much deeper, so they may be able to get more bang for their buck.

To sum this all up:  Two teams, the same sad results.  Shame on both management teams for putting lousy teams on the field after taxpayers paid for new stadiums for each team to play in. However, at least both the Pirates and the Nat’s fans have beautiful stadiums to watch games in.